Weeds, Seeds, and Good Deeds: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 - 7th Sunday after Pentecost

²⁴[Jesus] put before [the crowds] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;²⁵but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ ²⁸He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
  ³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; ³⁸the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, ⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

They're Back! by Alan Levine on flickr. CC BY 2.0

Some repairs are best left to the experts…

 

A few years ago, some maintenance workers at the Egyptian Museum were changing a lightbulb in the display case for King Tutankhamun’s funeral mask—a 3,000-year-old artifact made of solid gold, and arguably one of the most valuable relics in the world. In the process, they accidentally broke off the braided beard. So the workers grabbed a bottle of epoxy to make the repairs themselves. But it did not go well. They used too much glue, and it got all over the mask. So, they used a metal spatula to scrape off the excess glue. That also did not go well. The Egyptian government ultimately put eight maintenance workers on trial for their reckless handling of a national treasure.

By Roland Unger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

 

This can give us some insight into Jesus’s Parable of the Weeds, as to why the landowner prohibits his slaves from removing the weeds from the wheatfield: “for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them;” causing greater harm to the wheat than the enemy.

 

Think about how counterintuitive this is: if weeds sprout up in the garden, you pull them. Because they’re hideous! They rob the soil of water and nutrients. If they grow too tall, they block the sunlight. So why does landowner demand that the weeds remain in place? How is this good?

 

We all agree that we’re living in a troubled world. Therefore, wouldn’t it be better if certain people would just go away? Are you not sick and tired of all the greed and corruption in government and big business; violence in the streets; violence in homes; people being dehumanized for their race, ethnicity, gender, or orientation? Are you not tired of people prolonging the pandemic by their bad behavior?

 

Perhaps the world would be better without certain people in it. But that’s not your call to make. This world and its people belong to God. Those you would call enemies are, in fact, God’s children.

 

So what are you supposed to do?

 

The first thing is to remember Jesus. Many believed Jesus to be the most poisonous weed in the land—and believed they were doing God’s work by putting him to death.

 

You may be inclined to believe, as many do, that you would be doing God a huge favor by cutting down every weedy person and putting them where they belong. But that is not your decision to make. Cut down the people you call “enemies” and you end up destroying yourself and everything good God is doing. As a sinner, you also sow evil seeds in the world—just as others sow them in you. You need God’s mercy just as much as the next person. Remember—Jesus doesn’t save the world by cutting down his enemies. He saves the world by sacrificing his life for sinners who don’t deserve it, and claiming you as his own apart from your deserving. And Jesus wants nothing more than for his life and love to take root in you, that you bear the fruits of God’s kingdom right where you are.

 

And this does not mean that we roll over and submit to those who do evil, particularly to those who are most vulnerable. Sometimes it is God’s work to stop sinners from sowing evil seeds. Sometimes, it is God’s work to stand in solidarity with those whom the rest of the world has written off. Sowing seeds of peace and justice won’t always make you a hero. In fact, people may try to cut you down. But even these seeds will bear fruit.

 

You’re not going to change the world or other people by attacking them with your fists, your words, or your memes. You will by doing what Jesus does—sowing seeds of forgiveness, mercy, and hope. And even though the weeds appear to be flourishing, remember that God’s faithfulness is what enables you to persevere. Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest—and you will not be cut down. Sow the seeds of good deeds in Jesus’s name., God

 

One more thing: be glad that Jesus didn’t put people in charge of gathering weeds, because the person who appears as a weed today may not be a weed at all, like Jesus—and grow to bear the fruits of God’s kingdom of the healing of the nations.